Handling of multiple authentication procedures in 5G

ABSTRACT

A method by an AUSF of a home PLMN configured to communicate through an interface with electronic devices is provided. A first authentication request is received from a first PLMN that is authenticating an electronic device. A first security key used for integrity protection of messages delivered from the home PLMN to the electronic device is obtained. A second authentication request is received from a second PLMN that is authenticating the electronic device. A second security key used for integrity protection of the messages delivered from the home PLMN to the electronic device is obtained. A message protection request is received. Which of the first security key and the second security key is a latest security key is determined. The latest security key is used to protect a message associated with the message protection request.

PRIORITY CLAIM

The application is a continuation of International Patent ApplicationNo. PCT/EP2020/060968, filed Apr. 20, 2020, which claims the benefit ofand priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62/840,021 entitled“HANDLING OF MULTIPLE AUTHENTICATION PROCEDURES IN 5G,” and filed withthe United States Patent and Trademark Office on Apr. 29, 2019, thedisclosure of which are hereby incorporated in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to communications, and moreparticularly to communication methods and related devices and nodessupporting communications.

BACKGROUND

The 3GPP security standardization working group SA3 has finalized thesecurity specification for the Release 15 of the 5G System in TS 33.501[1]. The 5G System includes many new features that require theintroduction of additional security mechanisms. For example, the 5GSystem integrates non-3GPP access (e.g. WLAN) alongside 3GPP access (NewRadio and LTE) in a seamless manner More precisely, in 5G, the UE canrun the usual service access procedure independently of the underlyingaccess.

The 5G System consists of the Access network (AN) and the Core Network(CN). The AN is the network that allows the UE to gain connectivity tothe CN, e.g. the base station which could be a next generation node B(gNB) or a next generation evolved node B (ng-eNB) in 5G. The CNcontains all the Network Functions (NF) ensuring a wide range ofdifferent functionalities such as session management, connectionmanagement, charging, authentication, etc. FIG. 1, from TS 23.501 [2],provides a high overview of the 5G architecture for the non-roamingscenario.

The communication links between the UE and the network (AN and CN) canbe grouped in two different strata. The UE may communicate with the CNover the Non-Access Stratum (NAS), and may communicate with the AN overthe Access Stratum (AS). All the NAS communication takes place betweenthe UE and the Access and connectivity Management Function (AMF) in theCN over the NAS protocol (N1 interface in FIG. 1). Protection of thecommunications over this these strata is provided by the NAS protocol(for NAS) and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocol (forAS).

More details on the 5G security can be found in TS 33.501 [1]. Ingeneral, the security mechanisms for these protocols rely on multipledifferent security keys. In the 5G security specification, these keysare organized in a hierarchy. At the top level there is the long-termkey part of the authentication credential and stored in the SIM card onthe UE side and in the unified data management/authentication credentialrepository and processing function (UDM/ARPF) on the Home Public LandMobile Network (PLMN) side.

A successful Primary Authentication between the UE and the AUSF in theHome PLMN may lead to the establishment of the K_(AUSF) key which is thesecond level key in the hierarchy. This key is not intended to leave theHome PLMN and is used for new features introduced in the 5G System, suchas for the provisioning of parameters to the UE from the Home PLMN. Moreprecisely the K_(AUSF) key may be used for the integrity protection ofthe messages delivered from the Home PLMN to the UE. As described in TS33.501 [1], such new features include the Steering of Roaming (SoR) andthe UDM parameter delivery procedures.

The K_(AUSF) may be used to derive another key (K_(SEAF)) that is sentto the serving PLMN. The serving PLMN key (K_(SEAF)) may then be used toderive the subsequent NAS and AS protection keys. These lower level keystogether with other security parameters such as the cryptographicalgorithms, the UE security capabilities, the value of the counters usedfor replay protection in the different protocols, etc., constitute whatis defined as the 5G security context in TS 33.501 [1]. K_(AUSF) is notpart of the 5G security context since 5G security context resides in theserving network.

SUMMARY

According to some embodiments of inventive concepts, a mechanism can beprovided to determine which security key is to be used in protectingmessages sent from a Home PLMN to an electronic device.

According to some embodiments of inventive concepts, a method isprovided to operate an Authentication Server Function (AUSF) of a homePLMN. The method includes receiving a first r authentication requestfrom a first PLMN that is authenticating an electronic device. Themethod further includes obtaining a first security key used forintegrity protection of messages delivered from the home PLMN to theelectronic device. The method further includes receiving a secondauthentication request from a second PLMN that is authenticating theelectronic device. The method includes obtaining a second security keyused for integrity protection of the messages delivered from the homePLMN to the electronic device. The method includes receiving a messageprotection request. The method further includes determining which of thefirst security key and the second security key is a latest security key.The method includes using the latest security key to protect a messageassociated with the message protection request.

Authentication server function (AUSFs) of a communication system,computer programs, and computer program products are provided thatperform analogous operations to the above embodiments of inventiveconcepts.

One advantage that may be provided is that the K_(AUSF) key to be usedfor the SoR and UPU like procedures is synchronized between the HomePLMN and the electronic device. This advantage protects the integrity ofinformation to be delivered from the Home PLMN to the electronic device.A further advantage that may be provided is that no additional signalingoverhead between the electronic device and the network is necessary.

According to other embodiments of inventive concepts, a method isprovided in an electronic device configured to communicate through awireless air interface with a home PLMN and visiting PLMNs. The methodincludes transmitting a first registration request to a first PLMN toregister the electronic device. The method further includes generating afirst security key used for integrity protection of messages deliveredfrom the home PLMN to the electronic device and storing the firstsecurity key. The method further includes transmitting a secondregistration request to a second PLMN that is authenticating theelectronic device. The method further includes generating a secondsecurity key used for integrity protection of the messages deliveredfrom the home PLMN to the electronic device and storing the secondsecurity key. The method further includes receiving a protected messagefrom the home PLMN. The method further includes determining which of thefirst security key and the second security key is a latest security key.The method includes using the latest security key to determine contentsof a message received from the home PLMN.

Electronic devices, computer programs, and computer program products areprovided that perform analogous operations to the above embodiments ofinventive concepts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this application, illustrate certain non-limiting embodiments ofinventive concepts. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is block diagram illustrating an overview of the 5G architecturefor the non-roaming scenario;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a local breakout (LBO)architecture for a 5G Core Network with non-3GPP access;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating an example of management of multipleK_(AUSF) for protection of messages delivered from the HPLMN to anelectronic device (e.g., UE) according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device according tosome embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a core network node (e.g., an AMFnode, etc.) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a PLMN node (e.g., an AUSF node);

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating operations of an AUSF node accordingto some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating operations of an electronic deviceaccording to some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIGS. 9-11 are flow charts illustrating operations of an AUSF nodeand/or an electronic device according to some embodiments of inventiveconcepts;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a wireless network in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a user equipment in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in accordancewith some embodiments;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of a telecommunication network connected viaan intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via a basestation with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communicationsystem including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communicationsystem including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communicationsystem including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments; and

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communicationsystem including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Inventive concepts will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which examples of embodimentsof inventive concepts are shown. Inventive concepts may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the scope of present inventive concepts to those skilled inthe art. It should also be noted that these embodiments are not mutuallyexclusive. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to bepresent/used in another embodiment.

The following description presents various embodiments of the disclosedsubject matter. These embodiments are presented as teaching examples andare not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosed subjectmatter. For example, certain details of the described embodiments may bemodified, omitted, or expanded upon without departing from the scope ofthe described subject matter.

In TS 33.501[1], there are two features that may make use of theK_(AUSF) key.

The first feature of these two features is the Steering of Roaming (SoR)security mechanism described in clause 6.14 of TS 33.501 [1]. The SoRmechanism is used for the delivery of information about the list ofpreferred PLMNs from the UDM in the Home PLMN to the UE. Thisinformation is included in an integrity protected message where theK_(AUSF) key may be used for the calculation of the MessageAuthentication Code (MAC) as described in Annex A.17 of TS 33.501 [1].

The second feature of the two features is the UE parameters update (UPU)via UDM control procedure security mechanism specified in clause 6.15 ofTS 33.501 [1]. This control procedure is for the delivery of UEparameter updates from the UDM in the Home PLMN to the UE. The UPUupdates may be included in an integrity protected message where theK_(AUSF) is used for the calculation of the MAC (see Annex A.19 of TS33.501 [1]).

In the 5G System, a UE can be simultaneously registered to the networkvia 3GPP and non-3GPP accesses. In such a case, the UE can establish andmaintain two parallel NAS connections and run in parallel any of the NASprocedures to request resources and access services over each of theaccesses independently and in parallel. The UE can also be registeredsimultaneously to two different PLMNs, each over a specific type ofaccess as shown in FIG. 2, which is from TS 23.501 [2].

In the scenario of FIG. 2, the UE is registered over 3GPP access to aVisited PLMN (designated as VPLMN1 in FIG. 2) and over non-3GPP accessto a different Visited PLMN (designated as VPLMN2 in FIG. 2). Thus, theUE may be communicating in parallel with two different Visited PLMNs. Inorder to secure the communication, the UE may be required to maintainand use in parallel two different 5G security contexts each associatedwith a specific PLMN as described in clause 6.3.2 of TS 33.501 [1].These two 5G security context are resulting from two differentindependent Primary Authentication procedures involving the HPLMN, eachfor a specific VPLMN over the corresponding access. Each procedure wouldbe typically performed during initial registration with each VPLMN.

An issue that may arise is that these Primary Authentications may leadto two different K_(AUSF) keys in the HPLMN side and in the UE side. Itmay not be clear which of the two different K_(AUSF) keys to use forservices such as the SoR or the UDM parameter updates. If the UE and theAUSF K_(AUSF) keys are not synchronized, then there is a risk that theUE and the AUSF may use different K_(AUSF) keys for the SoR and SoR-likeprocedures leading to an integrity check failure. Consequently, theHPLMN information may not be delivered. The UE would not know whetherthe failure is due to some entity tampering with the information or dueto the usage of the wrong K_(AUSF). This failure could also lead to adeadlock since if the UE does not acknowledge the receipt of the messagedue to integrity check failure, then the AUSF would simply attemptdelivering it again which would only lead to the same failure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating elements of an electronic device400 (also referred to as a terminal, a mobile terminal, a mobilecommunication terminal, a wireless communication device, a wirelessterminal, a wireless device, a wireless communication terminal, a wireddevice, user equipment, UE, a user equipment node/terminal/device, etc.)configured to provide communication according to embodiments ofinventive concepts. The electronic device 400 may be a wired device or awireless device. (When the electronic device 400 is a wireless device,the wireless device may be provided, for example, as discussed belowwith respect to wireless device 4110 of FIG. 12.) As shown, when theelectronic device 400 is a wireless electronic device, the wirelesselectronic device may include an antenna 409 (e.g., corresponding toantenna 4111 of FIG. 12), and transceiver circuitry 407 (also referredto as a transceiver, e.g., corresponding to interface 4114 of FIG. 12)including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink anddownlink radio communications with a base station(s) (e.g.,corresponding to network node 4160 of FIG. 12) of a radio accessnetwork. The electronic device 400 may also include processing circuitry403 (also referred to as a processor, e.g., corresponding to processingcircuitry 4120 of FIG. 12) coupled to the transceiver circuitry, andmemory circuitry 405 (also referred to as memory, e.g., corresponding todevice readable medium 4130 of FIG. 12) coupled to the processingcircuitry. The memory circuitry 405 may include computer readableprogram code that when executed by the processing circuitry 403 causesthe processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodimentsdisclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processing circuitry403 may be defined to include memory so that separate memory circuitryis not required. The electronic device 400 may also include a networkinterface 401 coupled to processing circuitry 4033 and configured toprovide communications with a base station(s) and may include otherinterfaces (such as a user interface) coupled with processing circuitry403, to communicate with and/or electronic device may be incorporated ina vehicle.

As discussed herein, operations of electronic device 400 may beperformed by processing circuitry 403 and/or transceiver circuitry 407.For example, when the electronic device 400 is a wireless device,processing circuitry 403 may control transceiver circuitry 407 totransmit communications through transceiver circuitry 407 over a radiointerface to a radio access network node (also referred to as a basestation) and/or to receive communications through transceiver circuitry401 from a RAN node over a radio interface. Moreover, modules may bestored in memory circuitry 405, and these modules may provideinstructions so that when instructions of a module are executed byprocessing circuitry 403, processing circuitry 403 performs respectiveoperations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to ExampleEmbodiments relating to electronic devices).

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating elements of an AMF configured toprovide communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts. Asshown the AMF may include at least one network interface circuit 507(also referred to as a network interface) configured to providecommunications with nodes (e.g., with SMFs, ANs, and/or core networknodes). The AMF may also include at least one processor circuit 503(also referred to as a processor) coupled to the transceiver, and atleast one memory circuit 505 (also referred to as memory) coupled to theprocessor. The memory circuit 505 may include computer readable programcode that when executed by the processor 503 causes the processor 503 toperform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. Accordingto other embodiments, processor 503 may be defined to include memory sothat a separate memory circuit is not required.

As discussed herein, operations of the AMF may be performed by processor503 and/or network interface 507. Modules may be stored in memory 505,and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions ofa module are executed by processor 503, processor 503 performsrespective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect toExample Embodiments).

According to some other embodiments, a network node may be implementedas a core network CN node without a transceiver. In such embodiments,transmission to an electronic device that is a wireless electronicdevice may be initiated by the network node so that transmission to thewireless electronic device is provided through a network node includinga transceiver (e.g., through a base station or RAN node). According toembodiments where the network node is a RAN node including atransceiver, initiating transmission may include transmitting throughthe transceiver.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a public land mobilenetwork PLMN node (e.g., an AUSF node 600) of a communication networkconfigured to provide cellular communication according to embodiments ofinventive concepts. As shown, the AUSF node 600 may include networkinterface circuitry 607 (also referred to as a network interface)configured to provide communications with other nodes of the corenetwork and/or the radio access network RAN. The AUSF node may alsoinclude a processing circuitry 603 (also referred to as a processor)coupled to the network interface circuitry, and memory circuitry 605(also referred to as memory) coupled to the processing circuitry. Thememory circuitry 605 may include computer readable program code thatwhen executed by the processing circuitry 603 causes the processingcircuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosedherein. According to other embodiments, processing circuitry 603 may bedefined to include memory so that a separate memory circuitry is notrequired.

As discussed herein, operations of the AUSF node 600 may be performed byprocessing circuitry 603 and/or network interface circuitry 607. Forexample, processing circuitry 603 may control network interfacecircuitry 607 to transmit communications through network interfacecircuitry 607 to one or more other network nodes and/or to receivecommunications through network interface circuitry from one or moreother network nodes. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory 605, andthese modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of amodule are executed by processing circuitry 603, processing circuitry603 performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed belowwith respect to Example Embodiments relating to core network nodes).

In this group of embodiments, the electronic device 400 and the AUSF 600in the Home PLMN maintain and use one K_(AUSF) key regardless overwhether the electronic device 600 is registered over one or bothaccesses and to which PLMNs (e.g., visited PLMN1 and/or visited PLMN2).In one of the embodiments, the AUSF 600 and the electronic device 400may only use the latest K_(AUSF) resulting from the latest (e.g., mostrecent) successful Primary Authentication run as illustrated in FIG. 3.

Turning to FIG. 3, in operation 1 a, the electronic device 400 registersover an access type (e.g., 3GPP or non-3GPP) to the AMF 500 ₁ of a firstvisited PLMN1. The registration leads to a primary authentication withthe AUSF 600 of the home PLMN in operation 1 b. The AUSF 600 of the homePLMN and the electronic device 400 establish a first K_(AUSF) key. Forexample, the AUSF 600 and electronic device 400 may generate the firstK_(AUSF) key as specified in clause 6.1.3 of TS 33.501. The AUSF 600 andthe electronic device 400 store the K_(AUSF) key in operations 2 a and 2b, respectively.

In operation 3 a, the electronic device 400 registers over an accesstype (e.g., non-3GPP or 3GPP) to the AMF 600 ₁ of a second visitedPLMN2. The registration leads to a primary authentication with the AUSF600 of the home PLMN in operation 3 b. The AUSF 600 of the home PLMN andthe electronic device 400 establish a second K_(AUSF) key. For example,the AUSF 600 and electronic device 400 may generate the second K_(AUSF)key as specified in clause 6.1.3 of TS 33.501. The AUSF 600 and theelectronic device 400 store the K_(AUSF) key and keeps track of thelatest K_(AUSF) key in operations 2 a and 2 b, respectively, asdescribed below in FIGS. 7-11.

At some point in time, the UDM 300 in the home PLMN may decide to usethe SoR feature to deliver a new or updated PLMN preferred list to theelectronic device 400. The UDM 300 may send a message protection request(e.g., a SoR protection request or a UPU protection request, etc.) tothe AUSF 600 in the home PLMN. The AUSF 600 determines the latestK_(AUSF) key and uses the latest K_(AUSF) key in operation 6 to protectthe message associated with the message protection request. In operation7, the AUSF 600 sends a protection message response to the UDM 300.

In operation 8, the UDM 300 transmits the protection message response(e.g., a protected SoR message, a protected UPU message, etc.) to theelectronic device 400. The electronic device 400 uses the latest storedK_(AUSF) key to determine the contents of the protection messageresponse in operation 9.

Operations of an AUSF node 600 (implemented using the structure of FIG.6) will now be discussed with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 7according to some embodiments of inventive concepts. For example,modules may be stored in memory 605 of FIG. 6, and these modules mayprovide instructions so that when the instructions of a module areexecuted by respective AUSF node processing circuitry 603, processingcircuitry 603 performs respective operations of the flow chart.

In operation 700, processing circuitry 603 may receive, via networkinterface 607, a first registration and authentication request from afirst PLMN to register and authenticate the electronic device 400. Theprocessing circuitry 603 may authenticate the electronic device 400based on the SUPI (subscriber permanent identifier) of the electronicdevice 400 in the first registration and authentication request.

The processing circuitry in operation 702 may generate a first securitykey (i.e., a K_(AUSF) key). In operation 704, the processing circuitry603 may store the first security key. Operations 702 and 704 may includegenerating a first time stamp indicating a time when the first securitykey is generated and associating the first time stamp with the firstsecurity key. In other embodiments, a counter may be incremented whenthe first security key is generated, and the value of the counter may beassociated with the first security key.

In operation 706, processing circuitry 603 may receive, via networkinterface 607, a second registration and authentication request from asecond PLMN to register and authenticate the electronic device 400. Theprocessing circuitry 603 may authenticate the electronic device 400based on the SUPI of the electronic device 400 in the secondregistration and authentication request.

The processing circuitry in operation 708 may generate a second securitykey (i.e., a K_(AUSF) key). In operation 710, the processing circuitry603 may store the first security key. Operations 708 and 710 may includegenerating a second time stamp indicating a time when the secondsecurity key is generated and associating the second time stamp with thesecond security key. In other embodiments, a counter may be incrementedwhen the second security key is generated, and the value of the countermay be associated with the second security key.

As previously indicated, the UDM 300 in the home PLMN may decide to usethe SoR feature to deliver a new or updated PLMN preferred list to theelectronic device 400. The UDM 300 may send a message protection request(e.g., a SoR protection request or a UPU protection request, etc.) tothe AUSF node 600. In operation 712, the processing circuitry 603 mayreceive, via the network interface 607, a message protection request.

In operation 714, the processing circuitry 603 may determine which ofthe first security key and the second security key is the latestsecurity key. There are different methods of keeping track anddetermining which of the first security key and the second security keyis the latest security key.

Turning to FIG. 9, in one embodiment, time stamps are used to determinewhich of the first security key and the second security key is thelatest security key. As indicated above, time stamps may be generatedwhen security keys are generated and/or stored. In operation 900, theprocessing circuitry 603 may obtain the first time stamp associated withthe first security key. In operation 902, the processing circuitry 603may obtain the second time stamp associated with the second securitykey.

In operation 904, the processing circuitry 603 may make a determinationto determine whether the time of the first time stamp is later than thetime of the second time stamp. Responsive to the time of the first timestamp being later than the time of the second time stamp beingdetermined in operation 904, the processing circuitry 603 may determinein operation 906 that the first security key is the latest security key.Responsive to the time of the second time stamp being later than thetime of the first time stamp being determined in operation 904, theprocessing circuitry 603 may determine in operation 908 that the secondsecurity key is the latest security key.

Turning to FIG. 10, in another embodiment, a counter may be used todetermine which of the first security key and the second security key isthe latest security key. As indicated above, the value of a counter maybe incremented when a security key is generated and/or stored. Inoperation 1000, the processing circuitry 603 may obtain the value of thecounter associated with the first security key. In operation 1002, theprocessing circuitry 603 may obtain the value of the counter associatedwith the second security key.

In operation 1004, the processing circuitry 603 may determine whetherthe value of the counter that is associated with the first security keyis higher than the value of the counter that is associated with thesecond security key. Responsive to the value of the counter associatedwith the first security key being higher than the value of the counterassociated with the second security key being determined in operation1004, the processing circuitry 603 may determine in operation 1006 thatthe first security key is the latest security key. Responsive to thevalue of the counter associated with the first security key being higherthan the value of the counter associated with the second security keybeing determined in operation 1004, the processing circuitry 603 maydetermine in operation 1008 that the second security key is the latestsecurity key.

Turning to FIG. 11, in another embodiment, the AUSF node 600 may disposeof the “old” security key (e.g., deletes the stored security key) when anew security key is generated and stored. In operation 1100, theprocessing circuitry may determine which of the first security key andthe second security key is the stored security key, which is the latestsecurity key. In other words, the processing circuitry 603 may determinein operation 1100 whether the first security key is the latest securitykey. Responsive to the first security key being the stored security keyin operation 1100, the processing circuitry 603 may determine inoperation 1102 that the first security key is the latest security keyand delete the second security key (if the second security key was notpreviously deleted). Responsive to the first security key not being thestored security key (i.e., the second security key is the storedsecurity key) in operation 1100, the processing circuitry 603 maydetermine in operation 1104 that the second security key is the latestsecurity key and delete the first security key (if the first securitykey was not previously deleted).

Returning to FIG. 7, in operation 716, processing circuitry 603 may usethe latest security key to protect the message in the message protectionrequest.

Various operations from the flow chart of FIG. 7 may be optional withrespect to some embodiments of AUSF nodes and related methods. Forexample, operations of block 714 of FIG. 7 may be optional when the AUSFnode disposes of “old” security keys when a new security key isgenerated.

There may be situations where the electronic device 400 issimultaneously registered in two different VPLMNs (see, for example,FIG. 2). According to TS 33.501 [1], a visited PLMN can at any timetrigger a new re-authentication procedure leading to the establishmentof a new security key. In the scenario illustrated in FIG. 2, there is arisk of race condition and K_(AUSF) desynchronization should both thevisited PLMN1 and visited PLMN2 trigger a Primary Authenticationprocedure at a close or overlapping time interval. The solution to sucha scenario may be implementation specific because the AUSF node 600 isin control of both procedures (SoR and Primary Authentication), andhence could for example stall some procedures in order to reduce therisk of mismatch of the K_(AUSF) key between the electronic device 400and the home PLMN.

In yet another embodiment, different AUSF instances may be used in theHPLMN to run primary authentication for different access types. Thus, afirst K_(AUSF) key that is generated in a first primary authenticationin a first AUSF instance may be required to be deleted when a secondK_(AUSF) key is generated in a second primary authentication in a secondAUSF instance in situations where the AUSF node 600 disposes of “old”security keys when new security keys are generated. For thesesituations, the UDM receives confirmation from a second AUSF instancethat the second AUSF instance has completed successful primaryauthentication for an electronic device over aNudm_UEAuthenticate_ResultConfirmation service operation. The UDM maysend an indication to the first AUSF instance to delete the firstK_(AUSF) key. This requires the use of a new service operation betweenUDM and the first AUSF e.g. Nudm_UEAuthenticate_Notification.Alternatively, if the AUSF realization is fully stateless each AUSF willbe managing a single UE context for the electronic device 400 where asingle K_(AUSF) key will be stored.

Operations of the electronic device 400 (implemented using the structureof the block diagram of FIG. 4) will now be discussed with reference tothe flow chart of FIG. 8 according to some embodiments of inventiveconcepts. For example, modules may be stored in memory 405 of FIG. 4,and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructionsof a module are executed by respective electronic device processingcircuitry 403, processing circuitry 403 performs respective operationsof the flow chart.

In operation 800, processing circuitry 403 may transmit, via networkinterface 407 (or may in the case of a wireless device, via transceiver407), a first registration and authentication request to a first PLMN toregister and authenticate the electronic device 400.

The processing circuitry 403 in operation 802 may generate a firstsecurity key (i.e., a K_(AUSF) key). In operation 804, the processingcircuitry 403 may store the first security key. Operations 802 and 804may include generating a first time stamp indicating a time when thefirst security key is generated and associating the first time stampwith the first security key. In other embodiments, a counter may beincremented when the first security key is generated, and the value ofthe counter may be associated with the first security key.

In operation 806, processing circuitry 403 may transmit, via networkinterface 401 (or may in the case of a wireless device, via transceiver407), a second registration and authentication request to a second PLMNto register and authenticate the electronic device 400.

The processing circuitry 403 in operation 808 may generate a secondsecurity key (i.e., a K_(AUSF) key). In operation 810, the processingcircuitry 803 may store the first security key. Operations 808 and 810may include generating a second time stamp indicating a time when thesecond security key is generated and associating the second time stampwith the second security key. In other embodiments, a counter may beincremented when the second security key is generated, and the value ofthe counter may be associated with the second security key.

In operation 812, the processing circuitry 403 may receive, via thenetwork interface 401 (or may in the case of a wireless device, viatransceiver 407), a protected message.

In operation 814, the processing circuitry 603 may determine which ofthe first security key and the second security key is the latestsecurity key. There are different methods of keeping track anddetermining which of the first security key and the second security keyis the latest security key.

Turning to FIG. 9, in one embodiment, time stamps are used to determinewhich of the first security key and the second security key is thelatest security key. As indicated above, time stamps may be generatedwhen security keys are generated and/or stored. In operation 900, theprocessing circuitry 403 may obtain the first time stamp associated withthe first security key. In operation 902, the processing circuitry 403may obtain the second time stamp associated with the second securitykey.

In operation 904, the processing circuitry 403 may make a determinationto determine whether the time of the first time stamp is later than thetime of the second time stamp. Responsive to the time of the first timestamp being later than the time of the second time stamp beingdetermined in operation 904, the processing circuitry 403 may determinein operation 906 that the first security key is the latest security key.Responsive to the time of the second time stamp being later than thetime of the first time stamp being determined in operation 904, theprocessing circuitry 403 may determine in operation 908 that the secondsecurity key is the latest security key.

Turning to FIG. 10, in another embodiment, a counter may be used todetermine which of the first security key and the second security key isthe latest security key. As indicated above, the value of a counter maybe incremented when a security key is generated and/or stored. Inoperation 1000, the processing circuitry 403 may obtain the value of thecounter associated with the first security key. In operation 1002, theprocessing circuitry 403 may obtain the value of the counter associatedwith the second security key.

In operation 1004, the processing circuitry 403 may determine whetherthe value of the counter that is associated with the first security keyis higher than the value of the counter that is associated with thesecond security key. Responsive to the value of the counter associatedwith the first security key being higher than the value of the counterassociated with the second security key being determined in operation1004, the processing circuitry 403 may determine in operation 1006 thatthe first security key is the latest security key. Responsive to thevalue of the counter associated with the first security key being higherthan the value of the counter associated with the second security keybeing determined in operation 1004, the processing circuitry 403 maydetermine in operation 1008 that the second security key is the latestsecurity key.

Turning to FIG. 11, in another embodiment, the processing circuitry 403may dispose of the “old” security key (e.g., deletes the stored “old”security key) when a new security key is generated and stored. Inoperation 1100, the processing circuitry 403 may determine which of thefirst security key and the second security key is the stored securitykey, which is the latest security key. In other words, the processingcircuitry 603 may determine in operation 1100 whether the first securitykey is the latest security key. Responsive to the first security keybeing the stored security key in operation 1100, the processingcircuitry 603 may determine in operation 1102 that the first securitykey is the latest security key and delete the second security key (ifthe second security key was not previously deleted). Responsive to thefirst security key not being the stored security key (i.e., the secondsecurity key is the stored security key) in operation 1100, theprocessing circuitry 603 may determine in operation 1104 that the secondsecurity key is the latest security key and delete the first securitykey (if the first security key was not previously deleted).

Returning to FIG. 8, in operation 816, processing circuitry 403 may usethe latest security key to determine the content of the protectedmessage received from the home PLMN. The protected message may be a UDMparameter update message, a steering of roaming message, etc.

Various operations from the flow chart of FIG. 8 may be optional withrespect to some embodiments of electronic devices and related methods.For example, operations of block 814 of FIG. 8 may be optional inembodiments where “old” security keys are disposed of when new securitykeys are generated.

Example embodiments are discussed below.

1. A method by an Authentication Server Function, AUSF, of a home publicland mobile network, PLMN, configured to communicate through aninterface with electronic devices, the method comprising:

-   -   receiving (700) a first registration and authentication request        from a first PLMN that is authenticating an electronic device;    -   generating (702) a first security key used for integrity        protection of messages delivered from the home PLMN to the        electronic device;    -   storing (704) the first security key;    -   receiving (706) a second registration and authentication request        from a second PLMN that is authenticating the electronic device;    -   generating (708) a second security key used for integrity        protection of the messages delivered from the home PLMN to the        electronic device;    -   storing (710) the second security key;    -   receiving (712) a message protection request;    -   determining (714) which of the first security key and the second        security key is a latest security key; and    -   using (716) the latest security key to protect a message        associated with the message protection request.

2. The method of Embodiment 1, further comprising

generating a first time stamp indicating a time when the first securitykey is generated and associating the first time stamp with the firstsecurity key;

generating a second time stamp indicating a time when the secondsecurity key is generated and associating the second time stamp with thesecond security key.

3. The method of Embodiment 2, wherein determining which of the firstsecurity key and the second security key is the latest security keycomprises:

obtaining (900) the first time stamp;

obtaining (902) the second time stamp;

responsive to the first time of the first time stamp being later thanthe second time of the second time stamp (904), determining (906) thatthe first security key is the latest security key; and

responsive to the second time of the second time stamp being later thanthe first time of the first time stamp (904), determining (908) that thesecond security key is the latest security key.

4. The method of Embodiment 1, further comprising

incrementing a counter when the first security key is generated andassociating the value of the counter with the first security key;

incrementing the counter when the second security key is generated andassociating the value of the counter with the second security key.

5. The method of Embodiment 4, wherein determining which of the firstsecurity key and the second security key is the latest security keycomprises:

obtaining (1000) the value of the counter associated with the firstsecurity key;

obtaining (1002) the value of the counter associated with the secondsecurity key;

responsive to the value of the counter associated with the firstsecurity key being higher than the value of the counter associated withthe second security key (1004), determining (1006) that the firstsecurity key is the latest security key; and

responsive to the value of the counter associated with the secondsecurity key being higher than the value of the counter associated withthe first security key (1004), determining (1008) that the secondsecurity key is the latest security key.

6. The method of any of Embodiments 1-5, further comprising:

responsive to the first security key being the latest security key(1100), deleting (1102) the second security key; and

responsive to the second security key being the latest security key(1100), deleting (1104) the first security key.

7. The method of Embodiment 6, wherein the first PLMN is of a firstaccess type and the second PLMN is of a second access type, wherein thefirst security key is generated by a first instance of the AUSFassociated with the first access type and the second security key isgenerated by a second instance of the AUSF associated with the secondaccess type, and wherein deleting the second security key comprises:

-   -   sending an indication to the second instance of the AUSF to        delete the second security key; and

deleting the first security key comprises:

-   -   sending an indication to the first instance of the AUSF to        delete the first security key.

8. The method of any of Embodiments 1-7 wherein the message protectionrequest is a message protection request for one of a steering ofroaming, SoR, message or a UDM parameter update message.

9. An Authentication Server Function, AUSF, of a communications systemthat comprises a home public land mobile network, PLMN, configured tocommunicate through an interface with electronic devices, the AUSFcomprising:

at least one processor (603) configured to perform operationscomprising:

-   -   receiving (700) a first registration and authentication request        from a first PLMN that is authenticating an electronic device;    -   generating (702) a first security key used for integrity        protection of messages delivered from a home public land mobile        network, PLMN, to the electronic device;    -   storing (704) the first security key;    -   receiving (706) a second registration and authentication request        from a second PLMN that is authenticating the electronic device;    -   generating (708) a second security key used for integrity        protection of the messages delivered from the home PLMN to the        electronic device;    -   storing (710) the second security key;    -   receiving (712) a message protection request;    -   determining (714) which of the first security key and the second        security key is a latest security key; and    -   using (716) the latest security key to protect a message        associated with the message protection request.

10. The AUSF of Embodiment 9, wherein the at least one processor (603)is configured to perform further operations comprising

generating a first time stamp when the first security key is generatedand associating the first time stamp with the first security key;

generating a second time stamp when the second security key is generatedand associating the second time stamp with the second security key.

11. The AUSF of Embodiment 10, wherein determining which of the firstsecurity key and the second security key is the latest security keycomprises:

obtaining (900) a first time stamp indicating a first time when thefirst security key was generated;

obtaining (902) a second time stamp indicating a second time when thesecond security key was generated;

responsive to the first time being later than the second time (904),determining (906) that the first security key is the latest securitykey; and

responsive to the second time being later than the first time (904),determining (908) that the second security key is the latest securitykey.

12. The AUSF of Embodiment 9, the at least one processor (603) isconfigured to perform further operations comprising

incrementing a counter when the first security key is generated andassociating the value of the counter with the first security key;

incrementing the counter when the second security key is generated andassociating the value of the counter with the second security key.

13. The AUSF of Embodiment 12, wherein determining which of the firstsecurity key and the second security key is the latest security keycomprises:

obtaining (1000) the value of the counter associated with the firstsecurity key;

obtaining (1002) the value of the counter associated with the secondsecurity key;

responsive to the value of the counter associated with the firstsecurity key being higher than the value of the counter associated withthe second security key (1004), determining (1006) that the firstsecurity key is the latest security key; and

responsive to the value of the counter associated with the secondsecurity key being higher than the value of the counter associated withthe first security key (1004), determining (1006) that the secondsecurity key is the latest security key.

14. The AUSF of any of Embodiments 9-13, wherein the at least oneprocessor (603) is configured to perform further operations comprising:

responsive to the first security key being the latest security key(1100), deleting (1102) the second security key; and

responsive to the second security key being the latest security key(1100), deleting (1102) the first security key.

15. An authentication server function, AUSF, node (600) of a home publicland mobile network, PLMN, configured to operate in a communicationnetwork, wherein the AUSF node is adapted to perform according to any ofEmbodiments 1-8.

16. A computer program comprising program code to be executed byprocessing circuitry (603) of a authentication server function, node(600) of a home public land mobile network configured to operate in acommunication network, whereby execution of the program code causes theAUDF node (600) to perform operations according to any of embodiments1-8.

17. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storagemedium including program code to be executed by processing circuitry(603) of an authentication server function, AUSF, node (600) configuredto operate in a communication network, whereby execution of the programcode causes the AUSF node (600) to perform operations according to anyof embodiments 1-8.

18. A method in an electronic device (400) configured to communicatethrough a wireless air interface with a home public land mobile network,PLMN, and visiting PLMNs, the method comprising:

-   -   transmitting (800) a first registration and authentication        request to a first PLMN to authenticate the electronic device        (400);    -   generating (802) a first security key used for integrity        protection of messages delivered from the home PLMN to the        electronic device (400);    -   storing (804) the first security key;    -   transmitting (806) a second registration and authentication        request to a second PLMN that is authenticating the electronic        device (400);    -   generating (808) a second security key used for integrity        protection of the messages delivered from the home PLMN to the        electronic device (400);    -   storing (810) the second security key;    -   receiving (812) a protected message from the home PLMN;    -   determining (814) which of the first security key and the second        security key is a latest security key; and    -   using (816) the latest security key to determine contents of a        message received from the home PLMN.

19. The method of Embodiment 18 wherein the protected message comprisesone of a UDM parameter update message or a steering of roaming message.

20. The method of any of Embodiments 18-19, further comprising

generating a first time stamp indicating a time when the first securitykey is generated and associating the first time stamp with the firstsecurity key;

generating a second time stamp indicating a time when the secondsecurity key is generated and associating the second time stamp with thesecond security key.

21. The method of Embodiment 20, wherein determining which of the firstsecurity key and the second security key is the latest security keycomprises:

obtaining (900) the first time stamp;

obtaining (902) the second time stamp;

responsive to the first time of the first time stamp being later thanthe second time of the second time stamp (904), determining (906) thatthe first security key is the latest security key; and

responsive to the second time of the second time stamp being later thanthe first time of the first time stamp (904), determining (908) that thesecond security key is the latest security key.

22. The method of any of Embodiments 18-19, further comprising

incrementing a counter when the first security key is generated andassociating the value of the counter with the first security key;

incrementing the counter when the second security key is generated andassociating the value of the counter with the second security key.

23. The method of Embodiment 22, wherein determining which of the firstsecurity key and the second security key is the latest security keycomprises:

obtaining (1000) the value of the counter associated with the firstsecurity key;

obtaining (1002) the value of the counter associated with the secondsecurity key;

responsive to the value of the counter associated with the firstsecurity key being higher than the value of the counter associated withthe second security key (1004), determining (1006) that the firstsecurity key is the latest security key; and

responsive to the value of the counter associated with the secondsecurity key being higher than the value of the counter associated withthe first security key (1004), determining (1008) that the secondsecurity key is the latest security key.

24. The method of any of Embodiments 18-23 further comprising:

responsive to the first security key being the latest security key(1100), deleting (1102) the second security key; and

responsive to the second security key being the latest security key(1100), deleting (1102) the first security key.

25. An electronic device (400) configured to communicate through aninterface with a home public land mobile network, PLMN, and visitingPLMNs, the electronic device (400) comprising:

at least one processor (403) configured to perform operationscomprising:

-   -   transmitting (800) a first registration and authentication        request to a first PLMN to authenticate the electronic device;    -   generating (802) a first security key used for integrity        protection of messages delivered from the home PLMN to the        electronic device;    -   storing (804) the first security key;    -   transmitting (806) a second registration and authentication        request to a second PLMN that is authenticating the electronic        device;    -   generating (808) a second security key used for integrity        protection of the messages delivered from the home PLMN to the        electronic device;    -   storing (810) the second security key;    -   receiving (812) a protected message from the home PLMN;    -   determining (814) which of the first security key and the second        security key is a latest security key; and    -   using (816) the latest security key to determine contents of a        message received from the home PLMN.

26. The electronic device (400) of Embodiment 25 wherein the protectedmessage comprises one of a UDM parameter update message or a steering ofroaming message.

27. The electronic device (400) of any of Embodiments 25-26, wherein theat least one processor (403) performs further operations comprising:

generating a first time stamp indicating a time when the first securitykey is generated and associating the first time stamp with the firstsecurity key;

generating a second time stamp indicating a time when the secondsecurity key is generated and associating the second time stamp with thesecond security key.

28. The electronic device (400) of Embodiment 27, wherein determiningwhich of the first security key and the second security key is thelatest security key comprises:

obtaining (900) the first time stamp;

obtaining (902) the second time stamp;

responsive to the first time of the first time stamp being later thanthe second time of the second time stamp (904), determining (906) thatthe first security key is the latest security key; and

responsive to the second time of the second time stamp being later thanthe first time of the first time stamp (900), determining (908) that thesecond security key is the latest security key.

29. The electronic device (400) of any of Embodiments 25-26, the atleast one processor (403) performs further operations comprising:

incrementing a counter when the first security key is generated andassociating the value of the counter with the first security key;

incrementing the counter when the second security key is generated andassociating the value of the counter with the second security key.

30. The electronic device (400) of Embodiment 29, wherein determiningwhich of the first security key and the second security key is thelatest security key comprises:

obtaining (1000) the value of the counter associated with the firstsecurity key;

obtaining (1002) the value of the counter associated with the secondsecurity key;

responsive to the value of the counter associated with the firstsecurity key being higher than the value of the counter associated withthe second security key (1004), determining (1006) that the firstsecurity key is the latest security key; and

responsive to the value of the counter associated with the secondsecurity key being higher than the value of the counter associated withthe first security key (1004), determining (1008) that the secondsecurity key is the latest security key.

31. The electronic device (400) of any of Embodiments 25-30, wherein theat least one processor (403) performs further operations comprising:

responsive to the first security key being the latest security key(1100), deleting (1102) the second security key; and

responsive to the second security key being the latest security key(1100), deleting (1104) the first security key.

32. An electronic device (400) configured to operate in a communicationnetwork, wherein the electronic device is adapted to perform accordingto any of Embodiments 18-23.

33. A computer program comprising program code to be executed byprocessing circuitry (403) of an electronic device (400) configured tooperate in a communication network, whereby execution of the programcode causes the electronic device (400) to perform operations accordingto any of embodiments 18-23.

34. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storagemedium including program code to be executed by processing circuitry(403) of an electronic device (400) configured to operate in acommunication network, whereby execution of the program code causes theelectronic device (400) to perform operations according to any ofembodiments 18-23.

Additional explanation is provided below.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according totheir ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless adifferent meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context inwhich it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus,component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referringto at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means,step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methodsdisclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact orderdisclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following orpreceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step mustfollow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodimentsdisclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, whereverappropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may applyto any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features andadvantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from thefollowing description.

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described morefully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments,however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosedherein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limitedto only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments areprovided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter tothose skilled in the art.

FIG. 12 illustrates a wireless network in accordance with someembodiments.

Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in anyappropriate type of system using any suitable components, theembodiments disclosed herein are described in relation to a wirelessnetwork, such as the example wireless network illustrated in FIG. 12.For simplicity, the wireless network of FIG. 12 only depicts network4106, network nodes 4160 and 4160 b, and WDs 4110, 4110 b, and 4110 c(also referred to as mobile terminals). In practice, a wireless networkmay further include any additional elements suitable to supportcommunication between wireless devices or between a wireless device andanother communication device, such as a landline telephone, a serviceprovider, or any other network node or end device. Of the illustratedcomponents, network node 4160 and wireless device (WD) 4110 are depictedwith additional detail. The wireless network may provide communicationand other types of services to one or more wireless devices tofacilitate the wireless devices' access to and/or use of the servicesprovided by, or via, the wireless network.

The wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type ofcommunication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio networkor other similar type of system. In some embodiments, the wirelessnetwork may be configured to operate according to specific standards orother types of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particularembodiments of the wireless network may implement communicationstandards, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution(LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless localarea network (WLAN) standards, such as the IEEE 802.11 standards; and/orany other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as theWorldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth,Z-Wave and/or ZigBee standards.

Network 4106 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks,IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet datanetworks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local areanetworks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wired networks,wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks toenable communication between devices.

Network node 4160 and WD 4110 comprise various components described inmore detail below. These components work together in order to providenetwork node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providingwireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments,the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wirelessnetworks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices,relay stations, and/or any other components or systems that mayfacilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signalswhether via wired or wireless connections.

As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured,arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with awireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in thewireless network to enable and/or provide wireless access to thewireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration)in the wireless network. Examples of network nodes include, but are notlimited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), basestations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs(eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)). Base stations may be categorized based onthe amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, theirtransmit power level) and may then also be referred to as femto basestations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro basestations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor nodecontrolling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (orall) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralizeddigital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to asRemote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not beintegrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of adistributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in adistributed antenna system (DAS). Yet further examples of network nodesinclude multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, networkcontrollers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base stationcontrollers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmissionpoints, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities(MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., MSCs, MMEs), O&M nodes, OSS nodes, SONnodes, positioning nodes (e.g., E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs. As anotherexample, a network node may be a virtual network node as described inmore detail below. More generally, however, network nodes may representany suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged,and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device with accessto the wireless network or to provide some service to a wireless devicethat has accessed the wireless network.

In FIG. 12, network node 4160 includes processing circuitry 4170, devicereadable medium 4180, interface 4190, auxiliary equipment 4184, powersource 4186, power circuitry 4187, and antenna 4162. Although networknode 4160 illustrated in the example wireless network of FIG. 12 mayrepresent a device that includes the illustrated combination of hardwarecomponents, other embodiments may comprise network nodes with differentcombinations of components. It is to be understood that a network nodecomprises any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed toperform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein.Moreover, while the components of network node 4160 are depicted assingle boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multipleboxes, in practice, a network node may comprise multiple differentphysical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g.,device readable medium 4180 may comprise multiple separate hard drivesas well as multiple RAM modules).

Similarly, network node 4160 may be composed of multiple physicallyseparate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or aBTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their ownrespective components. In certain scenarios in which network node 4160comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components),one or more of the separate components may be shared among severalnetwork nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeB's.In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in someinstances be considered a single separate network node. In someembodiments, network node 4160 may be configured to support multipleradio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some componentsmay be duplicated (e.g., separate device readable medium 4180 for thedifferent RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the sameantenna 4162 may be shared by the RATs). Network node 4160 may alsoinclude multiple sets of the various illustrated components fordifferent wireless technologies integrated into network node 4160, suchas, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wirelesstechnologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into thesame or different chip or set of chips and other components withinnetwork node 4160.

Processing circuitry 4170 is configured to perform any determining,calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations)described herein as being provided by a network node. These operationsperformed by processing circuitry 4170 may include processinginformation obtained by processing circuitry 4170 by, for example,converting the obtained information into other information, comparingthe obtained information or converted information to information storedin the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based onthe obtained information or converted information, and as a result ofsaid processing making a determination.

Processing circuitry 4170 may comprise a combination of one or more of amicroprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit,digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, fieldprogrammable gate array, or any other suitable computing device,resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logicoperable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other networknode 4160 components, such as device readable medium 4180, network node4160 functionality. For example, processing circuitry 4170 may executeinstructions stored in device readable medium 4180 or in memory withinprocessing circuitry 4170. Such functionality may include providing anyof the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussedherein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 4170 may include asystem on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, processing circuitry 4170 may include one or moreof radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 4172 and basebandprocessing circuitry 4174. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF)transceiver circuitry 4172 and baseband processing circuitry 4174 may beon separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radiounits and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RFtransceiver circuitry 4172 and baseband processing circuitry 4174 may beon the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality describedherein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB or othersuch network device may be performed by processing circuitry 4170executing instructions stored on device readable medium 4180 or memorywithin processing circuitry 4170. In alternative embodiments, some orall of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 4170without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete devicereadable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner In any of thoseembodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readablestorage medium or not, processing circuitry 4170 can be configured toperform the described functionality. The benefits provided by suchfunctionality are not limited to processing circuitry 4170 alone or toother components of network node 4160, but are enjoyed by network node4160 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.

Device readable medium 4180 may comprise any form of volatile ornon-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation,persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory,magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removablestorage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or aDigital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile,non-transitory device readable and/or computer-executable memory devicesthat store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used byprocessing circuitry 4170. Device readable medium 4180 may store anysuitable instructions, data or information, including a computerprogram, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules,code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executedby processing circuitry 4170 and, utilized by network node 4160. Devicereadable medium 4180 may be used to store any calculations made byprocessing circuitry 4170 and/or any data received via interface 4190.In some embodiments, processing circuitry 4170 and device readablemedium 4180 may be considered to be integrated.

Interface 4190 is used in the wired or wireless communication ofsignalling and/or data between network node 4160, network 4106, and/orWDs 4110. As illustrated, interface 4190 comprises port(s)/terminal(s)4194 to send and receive data, for example to and from network 4106 overa wired connection. Interface 4190 also includes radio front endcircuitry 4192 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a partof, antenna 4162. Radio front end circuitry 4192 comprises filters 4198and amplifiers 4196. Radio front end circuitry 4192 may be connected toantenna 4162 and processing circuitry 4170. Radio front end circuitrymay be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 4162and processing circuitry 4170. Radio front end circuitry 4192 mayreceive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes orWDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 4192 mayconvert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriatechannel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 4198and/or amplifiers 4196. The radio signal may then be transmitted viaantenna 4162. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 4162 may collectradio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio frontend circuitry 4192. The digital data may be passed to processingcircuitry 4170. In other embodiments, the interface may comprisedifferent components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, network node 4160 may not includeseparate radio front end circuitry 4192, instead, processing circuitry4170 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected toantenna 4162 without separate radio front end circuitry 4192. Similarly,in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitry 4172 may beconsidered a part of interface 4190. In still other embodiments,interface 4190 may include one or more ports or terminals 4194, radiofront end circuitry 4192, and RF transceiver circuitry 4172, as part ofa radio unit (not shown), and interface 4190 may communicate withbaseband processing circuitry 4174, which is part of a digital unit (notshown).

Antenna 4162 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays,configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna 4162 may becoupled to radio front end circuitry 4190 and may be any type of antennacapable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. Insome embodiments, antenna 4162 may comprise one or moreomni-directional, sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receiveradio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. Anomni-directional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signalsin any direction, a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radiosignals from devices within a particular area, and a panel antenna maybe a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in arelatively straight line. In some instances, the use of more than oneantenna may be referred to as MIMO. In certain embodiments, antenna 4162may be separate from network node 4160 and may be connectable to networknode 4160 through an interface or port.

Antenna 4162, interface 4190, and/or processing circuitry 4170 may beconfigured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtainingoperations described herein as being performed by a network node. Anyinformation, data and/or signals may be received from a wireless device,another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly,antenna 4162, interface 4190, and/or processing circuitry 4170 may beconfigured to perform any transmitting operations described herein asbeing performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signalsmay be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node and/or anyother network equipment.

Power circuitry 4187 may comprise, or be coupled to, power managementcircuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node4160 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Powercircuitry 4187 may receive power from power source 4186. Power source4186 and/or power circuitry 4187 may be configured to provide power tothe various components of network node 4160 in a form suitable for therespective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed foreach respective component). Power source 4186 may either be included in,or external to, power circuitry 4187 and/or network node 4160. Forexample, network node 4160 may be connectable to an external powersource (e.g., an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interfacesuch as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source suppliespower to power circuitry 4187. As a further example, power source 4186may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery packwhich is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry 4187. Thebattery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices, may also beused.

Alternative embodiments of network node 4160 may include additionalcomponents beyond those shown in FIG. 12 that may be responsible forproviding certain aspects of the network node's functionality, includingany of the functionality described herein and/or any functionalitynecessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example,network node 4160 may include user interface equipment to allow input ofinformation into network node 4160 and to allow output of informationfrom network node 4160. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic,maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node4160.

As used herein, wireless device (WD) refers to a device capable,configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly withnetwork nodes and/or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, theterm WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE).Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receivingwireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infraredwaves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying informationthrough air. In some embodiments, a WD may be configured to transmitand/or receive information without direct human interaction. Forinstance, a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on apredetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event,or in response to requests from the network. Examples of a WD include,but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, avoice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktopcomputer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, agaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance,a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, atablet, a laptop, a laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mountedequipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment(CPE). a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, etc. A WD may supportdevice-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPPstandard for sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V),vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and may inthis case be referred to as a D2D communication device. As yet anotherspecific example, in an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, a WD mayrepresent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/ormeasurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/ormeasurements to another WD and/or a network node. The WD may in thiscase be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3GPP contextbe referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the WD maybe a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT)standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors,metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home orpersonal appliances (e.g. refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personalwearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, aWD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable ofmonitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functionsassociated with its operation. A WD as described above may represent theendpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may bereferred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described abovemay be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobiledevice or a mobile terminal.

As illustrated, wireless device 4110 includes antenna 4111, interface4114, processing circuitry 4120, device readable medium 4130, userinterface equipment 4132, auxiliary equipment 4134, power source 4136and power circuitry 4137. WD 4110 may include multiple sets of one ormore of the illustrated components for different wireless technologiessupported by WD 4110, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi,WiMAX, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention a few. Thesewireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chipsor set of chips as other components within WD 4110.

Antenna 4111 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays,configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected tointerface 4114. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna 4111 may beseparate from WD 4110 and be connectable to WD 4110 through an interfaceor port. Antenna 4111, interface 4114, and/or processing circuitry 4120may be configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operationsdescribed herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, dataand/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another WD. Insome embodiments, radio front end circuitry and/or antenna 4111 may beconsidered an interface.

As illustrated, interface 4114 comprises radio front end circuitry 4112and antenna 4111. Radio front end circuitry 4112 comprise one or morefilters 4118 and amplifiers 4116. Radio front end circuitry 4114 isconnected to antenna 4111 and processing circuitry 4120, and isconfigured to condition signals communicated between antenna 4111 andprocessing circuitry 4120. Radio front end circuitry 4112 may be coupledto or a part of antenna 4111. In some embodiments, WD 4110 may notinclude separate radio front end circuitry 4112; rather, processingcircuitry 4120 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may beconnected to antenna 4111. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or allof RF transceiver circuitry 4122 may be considered a part of interface4114. Radio front end circuitry 4112 may receive digital data that is tobe sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection.Radio front end circuitry 4112 may convert the digital data into a radiosignal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using acombination of filters 4118 and/or amplifiers 4116. The radio signal maythen be transmitted via antenna 4111. Similarly, when receiving data,antenna 4111 may collect radio signals which are then converted intodigital data by radio front end circuitry 4112. The digital data may bepassed to processing circuitry 4120. In other embodiments, the interfacemay comprise different components and/or different combinations ofcomponents.

Processing circuitry 4120 may comprise a combination of one or more of amicroprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit,digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, fieldprogrammable gate array, or any other suitable computing device,resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logicoperable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other WD 4110components, such as device readable medium 4130, WD 4110 functionality.Such functionality may include providing any of the various wirelessfeatures or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry4120 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 4130 orin memory within processing circuitry 4120 to provide the functionalitydisclosed herein.

As illustrated, processing circuitry 4120 includes one or more of RFtransceiver circuitry 4122, baseband processing circuitry 4124, andapplication processing circuitry 4126. In other embodiments, theprocessing circuitry may comprise different components and/or differentcombinations of components. In certain embodiments processing circuitry4120 of WD 4110 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RF transceivercircuitry 4122, baseband processing circuitry 4124, and applicationprocessing circuitry 4126 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. Inalternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processing circuitry4124 and application processing circuitry 4126 may be combined into onechip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry 4122 may be on aseparate chip or set of chips. In still alternative embodiments, part orall of RF transceiver circuitry 4122 and baseband processing circuitry4124 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processingcircuitry 4126 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet otheralternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 4122,baseband processing circuitry 4124, and application processing circuitry4126 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In someembodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 4122 may be a part of interface4114. RF transceiver circuitry 4122 may condition RF signals forprocessing circuitry 4120.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality describedherein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processingcircuitry 4120 executing instructions stored on device readable medium4130, which in certain embodiments may be a computer-readable storagemedium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality maybe provided by processing circuitry 4120 without executing instructionsstored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such asin a hard-wired manner In any of those particular embodiments, whetherexecuting instructions stored on a device readable storage medium ornot, processing circuitry 4120 can be configured to perform thedescribed functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality arenot limited to processing circuitry 4120 alone or to other components ofWD 4110, but are enjoyed by WD 4110 as a whole, and/or by end users andthe wireless network generally.

Processing circuitry 4120 may be configured to perform any determining,calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations)described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, asperformed by processing circuitry 4120, may include processinginformation obtained by processing circuitry 4120 by, for example,converting the obtained information into other information, comparingthe obtained information or converted information to information storedby WD 4110, and/or performing one or more operations based on theobtained information or converted information, and as a result of saidprocessing making a determination.

Device readable medium 4130 may be operable to store a computer program,software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code,tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed byprocessing circuitry 4120. Device readable medium 4130 may includecomputer memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory(ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., a hard disk), removable storage media(e.g., a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or anyother volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/orcomputer executable memory devices that store information, data, and/orinstructions that may be used by processing circuitry 4120. In someembodiments, processing circuitry 4120 and device readable medium 4130may be considered to be integrated.

User interface equipment 4132 may provide components that allow for ahuman user to interact with WD 4110. Such interaction may be of manyforms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment4132 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the userto provide input to WD 4110. The type of interaction may vary dependingon the type of user interface equipment 4132 installed in WD 4110. Forexample, if WD 4110 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touchscreen; if WD 4110 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through ascreen that provides usage (e.g., the number of gallons used) or aspeaker that provides an audible alert (e.g., if smoke is detected).User interface equipment 4132 may include input interfaces, devices andcircuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interfaceequipment 4132 is configured to allow input of information into WD 4110,and is connected to processing circuitry 4120 to allow processingcircuitry 4120 to process the input information. User interfaceequipment 4132 may include, for example, a microphone, a proximity orother sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a USBport, or other input circuitry. User interface equipment 4132 is alsoconfigured to allow output of information from WD 4110, and to allowprocessing circuitry 4120 to output information from WD 4110. Userinterface equipment 4132 may include, for example, a speaker, a display,vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other outputcircuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, andcircuits, of user interface equipment 4132, WD 4110 may communicate withend users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit fromthe functionality described herein.

Auxiliary equipment 4134 is operable to provide more specificfunctionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This maycomprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for variouspurposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wiredcommunications etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliaryequipment 4134 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.

Power source 4136 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a batteryor battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external powersource (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or powercells, may also be used. WD 4110 may further comprise power circuitry4137 for delivering power from power source 4136 to the various parts ofWD 4110 which need power from power source 4136 to carry out anyfunctionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry 4137 may incertain embodiments comprise power management circuitry. Power circuitry4137 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power froman external power source; in which case WD 4110 may be connectable tothe external power source (such as an electricity outlet) via inputcircuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Powercircuitry 4137 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliverpower from an external power source to power source 4136. This may be,for example, for the charging of power source 4136. Power circuitry 4137may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to thepower from power source 4136 to make the power suitable for therespective components of WD 4110 to which power is supplied.

FIG. 13 illustrates a user Equipment in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 13 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with variousaspects described herein. As used herein, a user equipment or UE may notnecessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/oroperates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device thatis intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which maynot, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific humanuser (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE mayrepresent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, anend user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit ofa user (e.g., a smart power meter). UE 42200 may be any UE identified bythe 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-IoT UE, amachine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.UE 4200, as illustrated in FIG. 13, is one example of a WD configuredfor communication in accordance with one or more communication standardspromulgated by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as3GPP's GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards. As mentioned previously, theterm WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although FIG.13 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to aWD, and vice-versa.

In FIG. 13, UE 4200 includes processing circuitry 4201 that isoperatively coupled to input/output interface 4205, radio frequency (RF)interface 4209, network connection interface 4211, memory 4215 includingrandom access memory (RAM) 4217, read-only memory (ROM) 4219, andstorage medium 4221 or the like, communication subsystem 4231, powersource 4233, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof.Storage medium 4221 includes operating system 4223, application program4225, and data 4227. In other embodiments, storage medium 4221 mayinclude other similar types of information. Certain UEs may utilize allof the components shown in FIG. 13, or only a subset of the components.The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE toanother UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of acomponent, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers,transmitters, receivers, etc.

In FIG. 13, processing circuitry 4201 may be configured to processcomputer instructions and data. Processing circuitry 4201 may beconfigured to implement any sequential state machine operative toexecute machine instructions stored as machine-readable computerprograms in the memory, such as one or more hardware-implemented statemachines (e.g., in discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logictogether with appropriate firmware; one or more stored program,general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital SignalProcessor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combinationof the above. For example, the processing circuitry 4201 may include twocentral processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a formsuitable for use by a computer.

In the depicted embodiment, input/output interface 4205 may beconfigured to provide a communication interface to an input device,output device, or input and output device. UE 4200 may be configured touse an output device via input/output interface 4205. An output devicemay use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example,a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE 4200. Theoutput device may be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, amonitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another outputdevice, or any combination thereof. UE 4200 may be configured to use aninput device via input/output interface 4205 to allow a user to captureinformation into UE 4200. The input device may include a touch-sensitiveor presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, adigital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, amouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, asmartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include acapacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. Asensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tiltsensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximitysensor, another like sensor, or any combination thereof. For example,the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digitalcamera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.

In FIG. 13, RF interface 4209 may be configured to provide acommunication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, areceiver, and an antenna. Network connection interface 4211 may beconfigured to provide a communication interface to network 4243 a.Network 4243 a may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as alocal-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network,a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like networkor any combination thereof. For example, network 4243 a may comprise aWi-Fi network. Network connection interface 4211 may be configured toinclude a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate withone or more other devices over a communication network according to oneor more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM,or the like. Network connection interface 4211 may implement receiverand transmitter functionality appropriate to the communication networklinks (e.g., optical, electrical, and the like). The transmitter andreceiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware,or alternatively may be implemented separately.

RAM 4217 may be configured to interface via bus 4202 to processingcircuitry 4201 to provide storage or caching of data or computerinstructions during the execution of software programs such as theoperating system, application programs, and device drivers. ROM 4219 maybe configured to provide computer instructions or data to processingcircuitry 4201. For example, ROM 4219 may be configured to storeinvariant low-level system code or data for basic system functions suchas basic input and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokesfrom a keyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory. Storage medium4221 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmableread-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magneticdisks, optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, orflash drives. In one example, storage medium 4221 may be configured toinclude operating system 4223, application program 4225 such as a webbrowser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application,and data file 4227. Storage medium 4221 may store, for use by UE 4200,any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations ofoperating systems.

Storage medium 4221 may be configured to include a number of physicaldrive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), floppydisk drive, flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive,thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc(HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray opticaldisc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive,external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamicrandom access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcardmemory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity(SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof. Storagemedium 4221 may allow UE 4200 to access computer-executableinstructions, application programs or the like, stored on transitory ornon-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. Anarticle of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system maybe tangibly embodied in storage medium 4221, which may comprise a devicereadable medium.

In FIG. 13, processing circuitry 4201 may be configured to communicatewith network 4243 b using communication subsystem 4231. Network 4243 aand network 4243 b may be the same network or networks or differentnetwork or networks. Communication subsystem 4231 may be configured toinclude one or more transceivers used to communicate with network 4243b. For example, communication subsystem 4231 may be configured toinclude one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or moreremote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communicationsuch as another WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN)according to one or more communication protocols, such as IEEE 802.11,CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WiMax, or the like. Each transceiver mayinclude transmitter 4233 and/or receiver 4235 to implement transmitteror receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links(e.g., frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter 4233and receiver 4235 of each transceiver may share circuit components,software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions ofcommunication subsystem 4231 may include data communication, voicecommunication, multimedia communication, short-range communications suchas Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communicationsuch as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine alocation, another like communication function, or any combinationthereof. For example, communication subsystem 4231 may include cellularcommunication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPScommunication. Network 4243 b may encompass wired and/or wirelessnetworks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN),a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network,another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network4243 b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-fieldnetwork. Power source 4213 may be configured to provide alternatingcurrent (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE 4200.

The features, benefits and/or functions described herein may beimplemented in one of the components of UE 4200 or partitioned acrossmultiple components of UE 4200. Further, the features, benefits, and/orfunctions described herein may be implemented in any combination ofhardware, software or firmware. In one example, communication subsystem4231 may be configured to include any of the components describedherein. Further, processing circuitry 4201 may be configured tocommunicate with any of such components over bus 4202. In anotherexample, any of such components may be represented by programinstructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry4201 perform the corresponding functions described herein. In anotherexample, the functionality of any of such components may be partitionedbetween processing circuitry 4201 and communication subsystem 4231. Inanother example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any ofsuch components may be implemented in software or firmware and thecomputationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

FIG. 14 illustrates a virtualization environment in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualizationenvironment 4300 in which functions implemented by some embodiments maybe virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creatingvirtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may includevirtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networkingresources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to a node(e.g., a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) orto a device (e.g., a UE, a wireless device or any other type ofcommunication device) or components thereof and relates to animplementation in which at least a portion of the functionality isimplemented as one or more virtual components (e.g., via one or moreapplications, components, functions, virtual machines or containersexecuting on one or more physical processing nodes in one or morenetworks).

In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein maybe implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtualmachines implemented in one or more virtual environments 4300 hosted byone or more of hardware nodes 4330. Further, in embodiments in which thevirtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radioconnectivity (e.g., a core network node), then the network node may beentirely virtualized.

The functions may be implemented by one or more applications 4320 (whichmay alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances,network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.)operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefitsof some of the embodiments disclosed herein. Applications 4320 are runin virtualization environment 4300 which provides hardware 4330comprising processing circuitry 4360 and memory 4390. Memory 4390contains instructions 4395 executable by processing circuitry 4360whereby application 4320 is operative to provide one or more of thefeatures, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.

Virtualization environment 4300, comprises general-purpose orspecial-purpose network hardware devices 4330 comprising a set of one ormore processors or processing circuitry 4360, which may be commercialoff-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processing circuitryincluding digital or analog hardware components or special purposeprocessors. Each hardware device may comprise memory 4390-1 which may benon-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions 4395 orsoftware executed by processing circuitry 4360. Each hardware device maycomprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 4370, alsoknown as network interface cards, which include physical networkinterface 4380. Each hardware device may also include non-transitory,persistent, machine-readable storage media 4390-2 having stored thereinsoftware 4395 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry4360. Software 4395 may include any type of software including softwarefor instantiating one or more virtualization layers 4350 (also referredto as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines 4340 as well assoftware allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefitsdescribed in relation with some embodiments described herein.

Virtual machines 4340, comprise virtual processing, virtual memory,virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by acorresponding virtualization layer 4350 or hypervisor. Differentembodiments of the instance of virtual appliance 4320 may be implementedon one or more of virtual machines 4340, and the implementations may bemade in different ways.

During operation, processing circuitry 4360 executes software 4395 toinstantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer 4350, which maysometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM).Virtualization layer 4350 may present a virtual operating platform thatappears like networking hardware to virtual machine 4340.

As shown in FIG. 14, hardware 4330 may be a standalone network node withgeneric or specific components. Hardware 4330 may comprise antenna 43225and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively,hardware 4330 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such asin a data center or customer premise equipment (CPE)) where manyhardware nodes work together and are managed via management andorchestration (MANO) 43100, which, among others, oversees lifecyclemanagement of applications 4320.

Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to asnetwork function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidatemany network equipment types onto industry standard high volume serverhardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be locatedin data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, virtual machine 4340 may be a softwareimplementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they wereexecuting on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of virtualmachines 4340, and that part of hardware 4330 that executes that virtualmachine, be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/orhardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtualmachines 4340, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).

Still in the context of NFV, Virtual Network Function (VNF) isresponsible for handling specific network functions that run in one ormore virtual machines 4340 on top of hardware networking infrastructure4330 and corresponds to application 4320 in FIG. 14.

In some embodiments, one or more radio units 43200 that each include oneor more transmitters 43220 and one or more receivers 43210 may becoupled to one or more antennas 43225. Radio units 43200 may communicatedirectly with hardware nodes 4330 via one or more appropriate networkinterfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components toprovide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio accessnode or a base station.

In some embodiments, some signalling can be effected with the use ofcontrol system 43230 which may alternatively be used for communicationbetween the hardware nodes 4330 and radio units 43200.

FIG. 15 illustrates a telecommunication network connected via anintermediate network to a host computer in accordance with someembodiments.

With reference to FIG. 15, in accordance with an embodiment, acommunication system includes telecommunication network 4410, such as a3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network 4411, such asa radio access network, and core network 4414. Access network 4411comprises a plurality of base stations 4412 a, 4412 b, 4412 c, such asNBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defininga corresponding coverage area 4413 a, 4413 b, 4413 c. Each base station4412 a, 4412 b, 4412 c is connectable to core network 4414 over a wiredor wireless connection 4415. A first UE 4491 located in coverage area4413 c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, thecorresponding base station 4412 c. A second UE 4492 in coverage area4413 a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 4412a. While a plurality of UEs 4491, 4492 are illustrated in this example,the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where asole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to thecorresponding base station 4412.

Telecommunication network 4410 is itself connected to host computer4430, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of astandalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server oras processing resources in a server farm. Host computer 4430 may beunder the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operatedby the service provider or on behalf of the service provider.Connections 4421 and 4422 between telecommunication network 4410 andhost computer 4430 may extend directly from core network 4414 to hostcomputer 4430 or may go via an optional intermediate network 4420.Intermediate network 4420 may be one of, or a combination of more thanone of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network 4420,if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular,intermediate network 4420 may comprise two or more sub-networks (notshown).

The communication system of FIG. 15 as a whole enables connectivitybetween the connected UEs 4491, 4492 and host computer 4430. Theconnectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 4450.Host computer 4430 and the connected UEs 4491, 4492 are configured tocommunicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection 4450, using accessnetwork 4411, core network 4414, any intermediate network 4420 andpossible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTTconnection 4450 may be transparent in the sense that the participatingcommunication devices through which OTT connection 4450 passes areunaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example,base station 4412 may not or need not be informed about the past routingof an incoming downlink communication with data originating from hostcomputer 4430 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE4491. Similarly, base station 4412 need not be aware of the futurerouting of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 4491towards the host computer 4430.

FIG. 16 illustrates a host computer communicating via a base stationwith a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordancewith some embodiments.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE,base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphswill now be described with reference to FIG. 16. In communication system4500, host computer 4510 comprises hardware 4515 including communicationinterface 4516 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wirelessconnection with an interface of a different communication device ofcommunication system 4500. Host computer 4510 further comprisesprocessing circuitry 4518, which may have storage and/or processingcapabilities. In particular, processing circuitry 4518 may comprise oneor more programmable processors, application-specific integratedcircuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (notshown) adapted to execute instructions. Host computer 4510 furthercomprises software 4511, which is stored in or accessible by hostcomputer 4510 and executable by processing circuitry 4518. Software 4511includes host application 4512. Host application 4512 may be operable toprovide a service to a remote user, such as UE 4530 connecting via OTTconnection 4550 terminating at UE 4530 and host computer 4510. Inproviding the service to the remote user, host application 4512 mayprovide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection 4550.

Communication system 4500 further includes base station 4520 provided ina telecommunication system and comprising hardware 4525 enabling it tocommunicate with host computer 4510 and with UE 4530. Hardware 4525 mayinclude communication interface 4526 for setting up and maintaining awired or wireless connection with an interface of a differentcommunication device of communication system 4500, as well as radiointerface 4527 for setting up and maintaining at least wirelessconnection 4570 with UE 4530 located in a coverage area (not shown inFIG. 16) served by base station 4520. Communication interface 4526 maybe configured to facilitate connection 4560 to host computer 4510.Connection 4560 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (notshown in FIG. 16) of the telecommunication system and/or through one ormore intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In theembodiment shown, hardware 4525 of base station 4520 further includesprocessing circuitry 4528, which may comprise one or more programmableprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmablegate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to executeinstructions. Base station 4520 further has software 4521 storedinternally or accessible via an external connection.

Communication system 4500 further includes UE 4530 already referred to.Its hardware 4535 may include radio interface 4537 configured to set upand maintain wireless connection 4570 with a base station serving acoverage area in which UE 4530 is currently located. Hardware 4535 of UE4530 further includes processing circuitry 4538, which may comprise oneor more programmable processors, application-specific integratedcircuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (notshown) adapted to execute instructions. UE 4530 further comprisessoftware 4531, which is stored in or accessible by UE 4530 andexecutable by processing circuitry 4538. Software 4531 includes clientapplication 4532. Client application 4532 may be operable to provide aservice to a human or non-human user via UE 4530, with the support ofhost computer 4510. In host computer 4510, an executing host application4512 may communicate with the executing client application 4532 via OTTconnection 4550 terminating at UE 4530 and host computer 4510. Inproviding the service to the user, client application 4532 may receiverequest data from host application 4512 and provide user data inresponse to the request data. OTT connection 4550 may transfer both therequest data and the user data. Client application 4532 may interactwith the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that host computer 4510, base station 4520 and UE 4530illustrated in FIG. 16 may be similar or identical to host computer4430, one of base stations 4412 a, 4412 b, 4412 c and one of UEs 4491,4492 of FIG. 15, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings ofthese entities may be as shown in FIG. 16 and independently, thesurrounding network topology may be that of FIG. 15.

In FIG. 16, OTT connection 4550 has been drawn abstractly to illustratethe communication between host computer 4510 and UE 4530 via basestation 4520, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices andthe precise routing of messages via these devices. Networkinfrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured tohide from UE 4530 or from the service provider operating host computer4510, or both. While OTT connection 4550 is active, the networkinfrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamicallychanges the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing considerationor reconfiguration of the network).

Wireless connection 4570 between UE 4530 and base station 4520 is inaccordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments may improve theperformance of OTT services provided to UE 4530 using OTT connection4550, in which wireless connection 4570 forms the last segment. Moreprecisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the randomaccess speed and/or reduce random access failure rates and therebyprovide benefits such as faster and/or more reliable random access.

A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoringdata rate, latency and other factors on which the one or moreembodiments improve. There may further be an optional networkfunctionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 4550 between hostcomputer 4510 and UE 4530, in response to variations in the measurementresults. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality forreconfiguring OTT connection 4550 may be implemented in software 4511and hardware 4515 of host computer 4510 or in software 4531 and hardware4535 of UE 4530, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may bedeployed in or in association with communication devices through whichOTT connection 4550 passes; the sensors may participate in themeasurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantitiesexemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities fromwhich software 4511, 4531 may compute or estimate the monitoredquantities. The reconfiguring of OTT connection 4550 may include messageformat, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; thereconfiguring need not affect base station 4520, and it may be unknownor imperceptible to base station 4520. Such procedures andfunctionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certainembodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signalingfacilitating host computer 4510's measurements of throughput,propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may beimplemented in that software 4511 and 4531 causes messages to betransmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using OTTconnection 4550 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

FIG. 17 illustrates methods implemented in a communication systemincluding a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 17will be included in this section. In step 4610, the host computerprovides user data. In substep 4611 (which may be optional) of step4610, the host computer provides the user data by executing a hostapplication. In step 4620, the host computer initiates a transmissioncarrying the user data to the UE. In step 4630 (which may be optional),the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried inthe transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance withthe teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.In step 4640 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a clientapplication associated with the host application executed by the hostcomputer.

FIG. 18 illustrates methods implemented in a communication systemincluding a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 18will be included in this section. In step 4710 of the method, the hostcomputer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown) the hostcomputer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step4720, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user datato the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordancewith the teachings of the embodiments described throughout thisdisclosure. In step 4730 (which may be optional), the UE receives theuser data carried in the transmission.

FIG. 19 illustrates methods implemented in a communication systemincluding a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 19will be included in this section. In step 4810 (which may be optional),the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionallyor alternatively, in step 4820, the UE provides user data. In substep4821 (which may be optional) of step 4820, the UE provides the user databy executing a client application. In substep 4811 (which may beoptional) of step 4810, the UE executes a client application whichprovides the user data in reaction to the received input data providedby the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed clientapplication may further consider user input received from the user.Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided,the UE initiates, in substep 4830 (which may be optional), transmissionof the user data to the host computer. In step 4840 of the method, thehost computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, inaccordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure.

FIG. 20 illustrates methods implemented in a communication systemincluding a host computer, a base station and a user equipment inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 20will be included in this section. In step 4910 (which may be optional),in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. Instep 4920 (which may be optional), the base station initiatestransmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step4930 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user datacarried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefitsdisclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional unitsor modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatusmay comprise a number of these functional units. These functional unitsmay be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one ormore microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digitalhardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs),special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitrymay be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which mayinclude one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM),random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, opticalstorage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes programinstructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or datacommunications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one ormore of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, theprocessing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unitto perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

The term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics,electrical devices and/or electronic devices and may include, forexample, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules,processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices,computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks,procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and soon, as such as those that are described herein.

Further definitions and embodiments are discussed below.

When an element is referred to as being “connected”, “coupled”,“responsive”, or variants thereof to another element, it can be directlyconnected, coupled, or responsive to the other element or interveningelements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to asbeing “directly connected”, “directly coupled”, “directly responsive”,or variants thereof to another element, there are no interveningelements present. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.Furthermore, “coupled”, “connected”, “responsive”, or variants thereofas used herein may include wirelessly coupled, connected, or responsive.As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. Well-known functions or constructions may not be described indetail for brevity and/or clarity. The term “and/or” includes any andall combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It will be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc.may be used herein to describe various elements/operations, theseelements/operations should not be limited by these terms. These termsare only used to distinguish one element/operation from anotherelement/operation. Thus a first element/operation in some embodimentscould be termed a second element/operation in other embodiments withoutdeparting from the teachings of present inventive concepts. The samereference numerals or the same reference designators denote the same orsimilar elements throughout the specification.

As used herein, the terms “comprise”, “comprising”, “comprises”,“include”, “including”, “includes”, “have”, “has”, “having”, or variantsthereof are open-ended, and include one or more stated features,integers, elements, steps, components or functions but does not precludethe presence or addition of one or more other features, integers,elements, steps, components, functions or groups thereof. Furthermore,as used herein, the common abbreviation “e.g.”, which derives from theLatin phrase “exempli gratia,” may be used to introduce or specify ageneral example or examples of a previously mentioned item, and is notintended to be limiting of such item. The common abbreviation “i.e.”,which derives from the Latin phrase “id est,” may be used to specify aparticular item from a more general recitation.

Example embodiments are described herein with reference to blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of computer-implemented methods,apparatus (systems and/or devices) and/or computer program products. Itis understood that a block of the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer programinstructions that are performed by one or more computer circuits. Thesecomputer program instructions may be provided to a processor circuit ofa general purpose computer circuit, special purpose computer circuit,and/or other programmable data processing circuit to produce a machine,such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of thecomputer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, transformand control transistors, values stored in memory locations, and otherhardware components within such circuitry to implement thefunctions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block orblocks, and thereby create means (functionality) and/or structure forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/orflowchart block(s).

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a tangiblecomputer-readable medium that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/orflowchart block or blocks. Accordingly, embodiments of present inventiveconcepts may be embodied in hardware and/or in software (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) that runs on a processorsuch as a digital signal processor, which may collectively be referredto as “circuitry,” “a module” or variants thereof.

It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, thefunctions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted inthe flowcharts. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in factbe executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/actsinvolved. Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowchartsand/or block diagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or thefunctionality of two or more blocks of the flowcharts and/or blockdiagrams may be at least partially integrated. Finally, other blocks maybe added/inserted between the blocks that are illustrated, and/orblocks/operations may be omitted without departing from the scope ofinventive concepts. Moreover, although some of the diagrams includearrows on communication paths to show a primary direction ofcommunication, it is to be understood that communication may occur inthe opposite direction to the depicted arrows.

Many variations and modifications can be made to the embodiments withoutsubstantially departing from the principles of the present inventiveconcepts. All such variations and modifications are intended to beincluded herein within the scope of present inventive concepts.Accordingly, the above disclosed subject matter is to be consideredillustrative, and not restrictive, and the examples of embodiments areintended to cover all such modifications, enhancements, and otherembodiments, which fall within the spirit and scope of present inventiveconcepts. Thus, to the maximum extent allowed by law, the scope ofpresent inventive concepts are to be determined by the broadestpermissible interpretation of the present disclosure including theexamples of embodiments and their equivalents, and shall not berestricted or limited by the foregoing detailed description.

Explanations are provided below for various abbreviations/acronyms usedin the present disclosure.

Abbreviation Explanation 3GPP 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project 5G5^(th) Generation Wireless Systems NG Next Generation IoT Internet ofThings AKA Authentication and Key Agreement AMF Access and MobilityManagement Function AN Access Network AS Access Stratum AUSFAuthentication Server Function CN Core Network CP Control Plane eNBEvolved Node B gNB Next Generation Node B HPLMN Home Public Land MobileNetwork LTE Long Term Evolution (4^(th) Generation Wireless System) MACMessage Authentication Code NAS Network Access Stratum NF NetworkFunction ng-eNB Next Generation Evolved Node B PDCP Packet DataConvergence Protocol PLMN Public Land Mobile Network QoS Quality ofService RAN Radio Access Network (R)AN Both 3GPP and non-3GPP AccessNetworks SA2 3GPP architecture working group SA3 3GPP security groupSEAF Security Anchor Function SIM Subscriber Identity Module SoRSteering of Roaming UDM Unified Data Management UE User Equipment or EndUser Device UP User Plane

Citations for references from the above disclosure are provided below.

-   Reference [1]: 3GPP TS 33.501, V15.0.0 (2018-03).-   Reference [2]: 3GPP TS 23.501 V15.1.0 (2018-03), Technical    Specification Group Services and System Aspects; System Architecture    for the 5G System; Stage 2 (Release 15)

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method by an Authentication ServerFunction, AUSF, of a home public land mobile network, PLMN, configuredto communicate through an interface with electronic devices, the methodcomprising: receiving a first authentication request from a first PLMNthat is authenticating an electronic device; obtaining a first securitykey used for integrity protection of messages delivered from the homePLMN to the electronic device, wherein the first security key isobtained in response to successful authentication based on the firstauthentication request; receiving a second authentication request from asecond PLMN that is authenticating the electronic device; obtaining asecond security key used for integrity protection of the messagesdelivered from the home PLMN to the electronic device, wherein thesecond security key is obtained in response to successful authenticationbased on the second authentication request; receiving a messageprotection request; determining which of the first security key and thesecond security key is a latest security key; and using the latestsecurity key to protect a message associated with the message protectionrequest.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating afirst time stamp indicating a first time when the first security key isobtained and associating the first time stamp with the first securitykey; and generating a second time stamp indicating a second time whenthe second security key is obtained and associating the second timestamp with the second security key.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereindetermining which of the first security key and the second security keyis the latest security key comprises: obtaining the first time stamp;obtaining the second time stamp; responsive to the first time of thefirst time stamp being later than the second time of the second timestamp, determining that the first security key is the latest securitykey; and responsive to the second time of the second time stamp beinglater than the first time of the first time stamp, determining that thesecond security key is the latest security key.
 4. The method of claim1, further comprising: incrementing a counter when the first securitykey is obtained and associating a value of the counter with the firstsecurity key; and incrementing the counter when the second security keyis obtained and associating a value of the counter with the secondsecurity key.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining which of thefirst security key and the second security key is the latest securitykey comprises: obtaining the value of the counter associated with thefirst security key; obtaining the value of the counter associated withthe second security key; responsive to the value of the counterassociated with the first security key being higher than the value ofthe counter associated with the second security key, determining thatthe first security key is the latest security key; and responsive to thevalue of the counter associated with the second security key beinghigher than the value of the counter associated with the first securitykey, determining that the second security key is the latest securitykey.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: responsive to thefirst security key being the latest security key, deleting the secondsecurity key; and responsive to the second security key being the latestsecurity key, deleting the first security key.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein the first PLMN is of a first access type and the second PLMN isof a second access type, wherein the first security key is generated bya first instance of the AUSF associated with the first access type andthe second security key is generated by a second instance of the AUSFassociated with the second access type, and wherein deleting the secondsecurity key comprises: sending a second indication to the secondinstance of the AUSF to delete the second security key; and deleting thefirst security key comprises: sending a first indication to the firstinstance of the AUSF to delete the first security key.
 8. The method ofclaim 6 wherein deleting the second security key comprises deleting thesecond security key responsive to the first security key being storedand deleting the first security key comprises deleting the firstsecurity key responsive to the second security key being stored.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the message protection request is a messageprotection request for one of a steering of roaming, SoR, message or aUE parameter update message.
 10. An Authentication Server Function,AUSF, of a communications system that comprises a home public landmobile network, PLMN, configured to communicate through an interfacewith electronic devices, the AUSF comprising: at least one processorconfigured to perform operations comprising: receiving a firstauthentication request from a first PLMN that is authenticating anelectronic device; obtaining a first security key used for integrityprotection of messages delivered from a home public land mobile network,PLMN, to the electronic device, wherein the first security key isobtained in response to successful authentication based on the firstauthentication request; receiving a second authentication request from asecond PLMN that is authenticating the electronic device; obtaining asecond security key used for integrity protection of the messagesdelivered from the home PLMN to the electronic device, wherein thesecond security key is obtained in response to successful authenticationbased on the second authentication request; receiving a messageprotection request; determining which of the first security key and thesecond security key is a latest security key; and using the latestsecurity key to protect a message associated with the message protectionrequest.
 11. The AUSF of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor isconfigured to perform further operations comprising: generating a firsttime stamp when the first security key is obtained and associating thefirst time stamp with the first security key; and generating a secondtime stamp when the second security key is obtained and associating thesecond time stamp with the second security key.
 12. The AUSF of claim10, wherein determining which of the first security key and the secondsecurity key is the latest security key comprises: obtaining a firsttime stamp indicating a first time when the first security key wasobtained; obtaining a second time stamp indicating a second time whenthe second security key was obtained; responsive to the first time beinglater than the second time, determining that the first security key isthe latest security key; and responsive to the second time being laterthan the first time, determining that the second security key is thelatest security key.
 13. The AUSF of claim 10, wherein the at least oneprocessor is configured to perform further operations comprising:incrementing a counter when the first security key is obtained andassociating a value of the counter with the first security key; andincrementing the counter when the second security key is obtained andassociating a value of the counter with the second security key.
 14. TheAUSF of claim 13, wherein determining which of the first security keyand the second security key is the latest security key comprises:obtaining the value of the counter associated with the first securitykey; obtaining the value of the counter associated with the secondsecurity key; responsive to the value of the counter associated with thefirst security key being higher than the value of the counter associatedwith the second security key, determining that the first security key isthe latest security key; and responsive to the value of the counterassociated with the second security key being higher than the value ofthe counter associated with the first security key, determining that thesecond security key is the latest security key.
 15. A method in anelectronic device configured to communicate through a wireless airinterface with a home public land mobile network, PLMN, and visitingPLMNs, the method comprising: transmitting a first authenticationrequest to a first PLMN to authenticate the electronic device;generating a first security key used for integrity protection ofmessages delivered from the home PLMN to the electronic device uponsuccessful authentication based on the first authentication request;transmitting a second authentication request to a second PLMN toauthenticate the electronic device; generating a second security keyused for integrity protection of the messages delivered from the homePLMN to the electronic device upon successful authentication based onthe second authentication request; receiving a protected message fromthe home PLMN; determining which of the first security key and thesecond security key is a latest security key; and using the latestsecurity key to determine contents of a message received from the homePLMN.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the protected messagecomprises one of a UDM parameter update message or a steering of roamingmessage.
 17. The method of claim 15, further comprising: generating afirst time stamp indicating a time when the first security key isgenerated and associating the first time stamp with the first securitykey; and generating a second time stamp indicating a time when thesecond security key is generated and associating the second time stampwith the second security key.
 18. The method of claim 17, whereindetermining which of the first security key and the second security keyis the latest security key comprises: obtaining the first time stamp;obtaining the second time stamp; responsive to the first time of thefirst time stamp being later than the second time of the second timestamp, determining that the first security key is the latest securitykey; and responsive to the second time of the second time stamp beinglater than the first time of the first time stamp, determining that thesecond security key is the latest security key.
 19. The method of claim15, further comprising: incrementing a counter when the first securitykey is generated and associating the value of the counter with the firstsecurity key; and incrementing the counter when the second security keyis generated and associating a value of the counter with the secondsecurity key.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein determining which ofthe first security key and the second security key is the latestsecurity key comprises: obtaining the value of the counter associatedwith the first security key; obtaining the value of the counterassociated with the second security key; responsive to the value of thecounter associated with the first security key being higher than thevalue of the counter associated with the second security key,determining that the first security key is the latest security key; andresponsive to the value of the counter associated with the secondsecurity key being higher than the value of the counter associated withthe first security key, determining that the second security key is thelatest security key.